1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to pretreatment compositions for the cleaning of fabrics, especially aerosol mousse and liquid spray type products.
2. The Prior Art
The present invention is concerned with laundry pretreater compositions in either aerosol mousse or liquid spray form. Both of these forms require formulation of homogeneous compositions.
Laundry pretreaters or prespotters are designed to aid in the removal of recalcitrant stains. They are used neat on the stain prior to the garment being washed in a machine with laundry detergent and other additives. Particularly recalcitrant stains are those of grease and oil, ground-in dirt (clay), blood and other proteinaceous stains such as those caused by grass.
Aerosol products of every description, and most recently aerosol mousses discharged by inverting, are very popular in the marketplace. Aerosols are popular because they are easily pointed. Sometimes consumers are instructed to vigorously shake these products before using. If consumers fail to shake, the discharge of an unhomogeneous dosage may result in poor product performance, even unsafe performance due to imbalance of composition ingredients.
Likewise, during manufacture, compositions that are not homogeneous would have to be kept so with constant stirring and circulation of ingredients during container filling operation. Without homogeneity, the aerosol unit could not be dosed with the correct unit amount of ingredients. Precautions to insure homogeneity are quite burdensome. Thus, there is a need for stable uniform liquid compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,389 (Moll) describes a foaming aerosol composition for the cleaning of carpet. Primary components include a solvent with consistent evaporation rate, a surfactant, and a propellant, all in an aqueous system. Solvent and surfactant admixture interact with the propellant to form an initial foam upon dispensing. The foam then collapses into the carpet followed by a secondary re-foaming.
An aqueous laundry prespotting composition is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,527 (Gipp) which reports achieving satisfactory oily stain removal in an essentially organic solvent free media. Evidently crucial to the success of this prespotter is the presence of a chelating agent such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid or citric acid salts and at least one nonionic solvent such that total surfactant HLB ranges from 9 to 13. Surfactant mixtures are suggested which include Neodol 25-7.RTM. and Neodol 25-3.RTM. identified as C.sub.12 -C.sub.15 linear alcohol ethoxylates with, respectively, 7 and 3 moles ethylene oxide per alcohol unit.
Prespotting compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,009 (Brusky et al.) which were said to exhibit special effectiveness against both oil and water-borne stains while utilizing a relatively low percentage of solvent. Success of this composition was attributed to a surfactant mixture of sorbitan fatty acid, ethoxylated nonylphenol or alcohol, and ethoxylated sorbitan fatty acid. Total HLB of the surfactant combination must range between 8.5 and 10.5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,781 (Gipp) reports metastable prespotting compositions comprising a chelating agent, an organic solvent, at least one nonionic surfactant, and water. The formulation typically forms at least two phases which are readily redispersed by shaking to provide a metastable composition. Example 1 lists a combination of four surfactants including sorbitan monooleate, ethoxylated sorbitan monooleate, nonylphenol ethoxylate (6 moles EO) and nonylphenol ethoxylate (3.5 moles EO). An isoparaffinic hydrocarbon, EDTA, citric acid, and water round out the formulation.
Evident from the aforecited art is that considerable technology is available with respect to laundry prespotting and pretreatment. Nevertheless, it is also evident that the known formulations have not been optimized for use with aerosol mousse and spray liquid type products.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aerosol mousse or spray liquid cleaning composition for the pretreatment of fabric which has superior soil removal properties for a wide variety of stains.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a laundry pretreater composition containing both water and hydrocarbon solvent which components form into a clear homogeneous liquid that allows for uniform dosing in manufacturing and dispensing.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an aerosol mousse type product that upon discharge forms a foam that alternately in repeating series peaks (expands) and collapses before foam dissipation.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following more detailed description.